John and Glory (But It Is Not Surrounding the Shepherds)

There is no Mary or Joseph, and there is no Zechariah or Elizabeth. There is no Gabriel making birth announcements, no angel telling good news, and there are no angels singing. In fact, there are no angels, not even one. But it gets worse. There is no virgin. There are no miracle pregnancies, and there are no songs of praise. There is no decree. No Bethlehem. No manger. There is no star in the sky, no Magi from the east and no shepherds in their fields. There is no baby, no strips of cloth and no lying in a manger; which means no gold, frankincense or myrrh. No, nada, nothing. And if there wasn’t any of that, there surely wouldn’t be any “pa rum pum pum pum,” or “tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy” or “far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found.” And all of that raises the question: “John, what the heck? How can you have Christmas without the Christmas story?” John’s response is maybe more Christmas than Christmas itself: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This Christmas, we are going to celebrate Christmas with the gospel of John and see Christmas from a different perspective in a series we’ve entitled, “John’s Curious Christmas.”